Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Plot Synopsis:

In the quiet streets of Prague all manner of otherworldly creatures lurk in the shadows. Unbeknownst to its citizens, their only hope against the tide of predators are the dauntless lamplighters – a secret elite of monster hunters whose light staves off the darkness each night. Domek Myska leads a life teeming with fraught encounters with the worst kind of evil: pijavice, bloodthirsty and soulless vampiric creatures. Despite this, Domek find solace in his moments spent in the company of his friend, the clever and beautiful Lady Ora Fischerová– a widow with secrets of her own.

After discovering a conspiracy amongst the pijavice that could see them unleash terror on the daylight world, Domek finds himself in a race against those who aim to twist alchemical science for their own dangerous gain.

Review: This book was fantastic. I love fantasy novels that take place in historical places. This book really made me want to learn more about Prague and the history of Bohemia. The story goes between the two main characters Domek Myska, a lamplighter who not only lights the streets, but fights demons and Lady Ora Fischerová, an aristocrat and one of those aforementioned demons. I loved that the chapters themselves would switch between narrators as you followed both of our leads into the twisted underbelly of 19th century Prague. The characters themselves start as flirtatious friends, neither one aware of the other’s true nature. Early on in the story Domek kills a pijavica (vampire) and finds a mysterious object in the its possession.

This object turns out to be a soul container, only the soul inside is really a will-o-the-wisp. This wisp is probably one of my favorite characters He is snarky and constantly pointing out the moral grey areas that Domek seems to occupy. Both Domek and Ora are sucked into investigating what the city’s pijavica are really up to. Through the twists and turns of this novel, Nicole Jarvis ties together every plot point in the end in a beautiful albeit a little gruesome ending.

This book also acknowledges queerness and what that was like during this time. One of the side characters is a gay man who can avoid the sodomy laws because of his wealth. Another character has had relations with both men and women throughout their long lifespans. I think it’s important to acknowledge that queer people have always existed regardless of laws and other types of persecution.

I would give this book 4.75 stars. The only reason I would deduct .25 stars is because I really wish there had been a pronunciation guide either at the beginning or end of the book.